Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. The Cavaliers’ only game ever against Villanova was coach Dom Starsia’s first game in Charlottesville. That was the first of 197 (and counting) victories for the Hall of Famer, and a win in the first round would put Starsia on the precipice of career victory No. 300.

No. 2 SYRACUSE vs. SIENA

Series: First meeting

It’s interesting that the Cuse plays Army, Albany, Binghamton, Colgate, Cornell and Hobart, but the Saints are one of the few upstate teams that don’t regularly dot the schedule (Canisius and Marist are two others). OK, not that interesting, since this is Siena’s first NCAA appearance and there isn’t much to be gained from playing a middling program. But the Saints are one of the best teams to emerge from the MAAC, which means this won’t necessarily be the last time these teams are paired in the NCAA tournament.

Duke and Navy met in all but one season from 1946 to 1966, and again from 1989 to 1999. The Blue Devils took the last six meetings, then were dropped from Navy’s schedule when the Mids joined the ECAC (Rutgers took Duke’s mid-March spot). Navy plays Maryland and North Carolina and regularly scrimmages Virginia. This is the one ACC team the Mids aren’t fully familiar with.

It’s genuinely odd these two teams don’t have more history; both have long-established programs, and both have popped up in plenty of postseasons in the last 20 years. The 1995 game was a first-round matchup at Princeton.

No. 5 CORNELL vs. HOFSTRA

Series: Cornell leads 5-1NCAA series: First meetingLast meeting: Cornell won 14-12 in its 2004 season opener

How about a couple more schools with some geographic proximity that are relative strangers. They had a single game in 1972, then played from 1990 to 1992 and again on Long Island in 2003 and 2004.

No. 6 NORTH CAROLINA vs. UMBC

Series: North Carolina leads 17-6NCAA series: First meetingLast meeting: North Carolina won 11-5 in 2005

The Tar Heels and Retrievers had a home-and-home from 1998 to 2005, and tripped up the dormant ACC power three times in Catonsville. This has dangerous game written all over it, especially if UMBC can match its level of play from the America East final. It’s the third straight NCAA trip to an ACC school for the Retrievers; they beat Maryland in 2007 and lost narrowly at Virginia last year.

The subplot in this particular game is mind-numbingly easy. Former Fighting Irish attackman (and football player) Will Yeatman has a chance to come back and haunt his former team. Wonder if anyone else will catch on to that fact and write about it this week.

No great threads spring to mind at this hour, so this is a fine time to wrap up and point out the only way any player on any team in the tournament could be facing a familiar opponent is if UMBC or North Carolina had a fifth-year senior. In fact, the only repeat coaching matchup from the last four years is UMBC’s Don Zimmerman and North Carolina’s (and, previously, Ohio State’s) Joe Breschi.

So, no, the history is a bit bare. But that just adds to the intrigue of some curious first-round games.